Using a characteristic of a process input/output (i/o) activity and data subject to the i/o activity to determine whether the process is a suspicious process

ABSTRACT

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for detecting a security breach in a system managing access to a storage. Process Input/Output (I/O) activity by a process accessing data in a storage is monitored. A determination is made of a characteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity from the process. A determination is made as to whether a characteristic of the process I/O activity as compared to the characteristic of the data satisfies a condition. The process initiating the I/O activity is characterized as a suspicious process in response to determining that the condition is satisfied. A security breach is indicated in response to characterizing the process as the suspicious process.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, andmethod for using a characteristic of a process I/O activity and datasubject to the i/o activity to determine whether the process is asuspicious process.

2. Description of the Related Art

Anti-malware software, also known as anti-virus software, is used todetect, prevent and remove malicious software, such as malicious browserhelper objects (BHOs), browser hijackers, ransomware, key loggers,backdoors, rootkits, trojan horses, worms, malicious LSPs, dialers,fraud tools, adware and spyware. Typically when there is a possible databreach from malicious software, access to the data subject to the breachis blocked until the security threat is resolved, so as to avoid anyalteration of data by the suspicious software.

There is a need in the art for improved techniques for detectingsuspicious processes potentially having malware so that such processescan then be managed to prevent malevolent activity and compromisingdata.

SUMMARY

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method fordetecting a security breach in a system managing access to a storage.Process Input/Output (I/O) activity by a process accessing data in astorage is monitored. A determination is made of a characteristic of thedata subject to the I/O activity from the process. A determination ismade as to whether a characteristic of the process I/O activity ascompared to the characteristic of the data satisfies a condition. Theprocess initiating the I/O activity is characterized as a suspiciousprocess in response to determining that the condition is satisfied. Asecurity breach is indicated in response to characterizing the processas the suspicious process.

With the above embodiment, a characteristic of the I/O activity and acharacteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity are compared todetermine if a condition is satisfied. Satisfying the condition for thecompared characteristic is indicative of I/O activity of malicious code.For instance, malicious code may exhibit certain I/O activitycharacteristics with respect to characteristics of the data, and if aprocess exhibits I/O activity satisfying a condition with respect to acharacteristic of data indicative of malicious code, than that processis characterized as suspicious activity and a security breach indicated.With such embodiments, malicious code is determined based on thebehavior or characteristics of the I/O activity and the characteristicof the data being accessed, not just the content of the code. Furtherwith the described embodiment, both the characteristic of the processI/O activity and data are considered, because a characteristic of thedata may determine whether a specific I/O activity characteristic isindicative that the process initiating the I/O activity is a suspiciousprocess. Described embodiments improve the success of behavioralanalysis of processes for malevolent purposes by considering the contextof the data the process is operating upon.

In a further embodiment, the characteristic of the data comprises afirst characteristic of the data and the characteristic of the processI/O activity comprises a first characteristics of the process I/Oactivity. In response to determining that the first characteristic ofthe I/O activity as compared to the first characteristic of the datasatisfies a first condition, a determination is made of a secondcharacteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity from the process.A determination is made as to whether a second characteristic of theprocess I/O activity as compared to the second characteristic of thedata satisfies a second condition. The process initiating the processI/O activity is indicated as the suspicious process in response todetermining that the second condition is satisfied.

With the above embodiment, multiple conditions with respect to differentcharacteristics of the I/O activity and the data must be satisfiedbefore classifying the process as a suspicious process. The differentcharacteristics of the I/O activity and the data may relate to differentcharacteristics that independently indicate I/O activity observed asoccurring with malicious processes. Requiring that multiple conditionsbe satisfied with respect to different characteristics of the I/Oactivity and the data reduces the likelihood of mischaracterizing avalid process as suspicious.

A further embodiment comprises a computer program product, system, andmethod for detecting a security breach in a system managing access to astorage. Process Input/Output (I/O) activity by a process accessing datain a storage is monitored. A determination is made of historical I/Oactivity of the data subject to the process I/O activity from theprocess. A determination is made as to whether the process I/O activityexceeds the historical I/O activity by a threshold. The processinitiating the I/O activity is characterized as a suspicious process inresponse to determining that the process I/O activity exceeds thehistorical I/O activity by the threshold. A security breach is indicatedin response to characterizing the process as the suspicious process.

With the above embodiment, a process is identified as suspicious whenthe process has I/O activity that exceeds the historical I/O activity ofthe data being accessed by a threshold indicative of a maliciousprocess. This allows classification of a suspicious process and securitybreach based on both the process I/O activity, the historical I/Oactivity of the data being accessed, and a recognized threshold to allowclassification based on the behavior of the code, not just the contentof the code.

In a further embodiment, the historical I/O activity comprises a peakI/O rate for a time period during which an I/O rate of data accessduring the time period was a highest I/O rate and the process I/Oactivity comprises a process I/O rate of the process I/O activity. Thedetermining whether the process I/O activity exceeds the historical I/Oactivity by the threshold comprises determining whether the process I/Orate exceeds the peak I/O rate by the threshold.

With the above embodiment, a determination is made whether the I/O rateof the process exceeds a peak I/O rate for the data. If the process isexceeding the peak or highest I/O rate for the data by a threshold, thensuch high rate of access is typical of malicious processes. This allowsa suspicious process to be identified based on the I/O rate of theprocess versus a historical I/O rate of the data, to allowclassification of a suspicious process without having to analyze thecontent of the code of the process with respect to virus definitionfiles.

In a further embodiment, the peak I/O rate comprises an average peak I/Orate of peak I/O rates measured during samples of the time period. Thedetermining the historical I/O activity comprises determining a standarddeviation of the peak I/O rates during the samples of the time period.The threshold comprises a predetermined number of the standarddeviation. The threshold is exceeded in response to determining that theprocess I/O rate exceeds the peak I/O rate by the predetermined numberof the standard deviation.

With the above embodiment, the condition is satisfied if the process I/Orate exceeds the peak I/O rate for the data by a number of the standarddeviation of the peak I/O data, which indicates that the probabilitythat the process I/O rate falls within normal peak I/O rate levels ishighly unlikely. This is further indicative that the process I/Oactivity is for a suspicious process as malicious code is observed to beassociated with higher I/O rates.

A further embodiment comprises a computer program product, system, andmethod for detecting a security breach in a system managing access to astorage. Process Input/Output (I/O) activity by a process accessing datain a storage is monitored and a determination is made of a timestampwhen the data subject to the I/O activity was last accessed. Adetermination is made as to whether a difference of a process accesstime at which the process is accessing the data and the timestampexceeds a threshold. The process initiating the I/O activity ischaracterized as a suspicious process in response to determining thatthe difference of the process access time and the timestamp exceeds thethreshold. A security breach is indicated in response to characterizingthe process as the suspicious process.

With the above embodiment, a determination is made as to whether thetime since the data being accessed by the process I/O activity was lastaccessed exceeds a threshold. This allows a suspicious process to beidentified based on the frequency at which the data is accessed becausemalicious processes have been observed to access data not having beenaccessed for an extended period. This allows classification of asuspicious process based on the characteristic of the data beingaccessed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a computing environment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of an Input/Output (I/O) activitysample.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of historical I/O activity information.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of data entity access information.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of operations to determine whether aprocess comprises a suspicious process based on I/O ratecharacteristics.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of operations to determine whether aprocess comprises a suspicious process based on data access timecharacteristics.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of operations to determine whether aprocess comprises a suspicious process based on a plurality of differentcharacteristics of the I/O activity and data subject to the I/O activityby the process.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computing environment in which the components ofFIG. 1 may be implemented

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Anti-malware software identifies security threats and potentialmalicious processes, and then may block access to data subject to thesecurity threat until the security threat is resolved. Describedembodiments provide techniques to determine whether a process initiatingI/O activity with respect to data is a suspicious process potentiallyhaving malicious code based on one or more characteristics ofInput/Output I/O activity being initiated by the monitored process andthe data subject to the I/O activity. For instance, one characteristicconsidered may comprise an I/O rate, such as a comparison of whether theI/O rate of the I/O activity of the monitored process exceeds a peak I/Orate for the accessed data by a threshold, such as a number of standarddeviations of the measured peak I/O rate. Another characteristic toconsider may comprise a last time the data subject to the I/O activityof the monitored process was accessed.

The considered characteristics of the process I/O activity and the databeing accessed comprise characteristics that are empirically observed astypical of malicious code. For instance, malicious code, such asransomware, may access a large amount of data at a faster than normalrate to encrypt as much data as possible, thus resulting in an I/O ratethat exceeds a peak I/O rate for data in the system by a substantialamount. Further, malicious code, such as ransomware or other viruses,may attempt to access all data in the system, including data notaccessed in a long time. If these characteristics of the I/O activityexceeds the same characteristics with respect to the data beingaccessed, such as I/O rate, time of access, etc., by a threshold amount,then such detected conditions may indicate that the monitored processcomprises a suspicious process potentially having malicious code.

Described embodiments thus flag processes as being suspicious based onthe behavior of the process as well as characteristics of the data,because the context of the data being accessed may determine whether theprocess is acting in a manner indicative of malicious code. Forinstance, a process having an apparent high I/O rate may not in factindicate malicious code if the data being accessed has a high peak I/Orate. Described embodiments are advantageous over malware identificationtechniques that analyze the code, which are process intensive andrequire use of large virus definition files that need to be constantlyupdated.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a computing environment. A pluralityof hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂ . . . 102 _(n) may submit Input/Output (I/O)requests to a storage controller 104 over a network 106 to access dataentities 108 (e.g., Volumes, Logical Unit Numbers, Logical Devices,Logical Subsystems, data sets, extents of data, data objects, databases,etc.) in a storage 110. The storage controller 104 includes one or moreprocessors 112 and a memory 114, including a cache 116 to cache data forthe storage 110. The processor 112 may comprise a separate centralprocessing unit (CPU), one or a group of multiple cores on a single CPU,or a group of processing resources on one or more CPUs. The cache 116buffers data transferred between the hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂ . . . 102 _(n)and data entities 108 in the storage 110.

The memory 114 includes a storage manager 118 for managing the transferof tracks transferred between the hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂ . . . 102 _(n) andthe storage 110 and a cache manager 120 that manages data transferredbetween the hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂ . . . 102 _(n) and the storage 110 in thecache 116. A track may comprise any unit of data configured in thestorage 110, such as a track, Logical Block Address (LBA), storage cell,group of cells (e.g., column, row or array of cells), sector, segment,etc., which may be part of a larger grouping of tracks, such as avolume, logical device, etc.

The memory 114 further includes a threat detector 124 to detectsuspicious processes that potentially have malicious code, such as avirus, ransomware, etc. based on historical Input/Output (I/O) activity300 and/or data entity access information 400. The historical I/Oactivity 300 is generated from I/O activity samples 200 comprisingmeasurements of I/O activity toward the data entities 108 at differenttime periods, such as peak I/O rates at different time periods, e.g., aportion of a larger time period (e.g., a segment of a day).

The I/O activity samples 200 are measured at different sample timeperiods of a lager time period. For instance, the sample time periodsmay comprise portions of a larger time period comprising a day, such asportions of a day, daytime versus nighttime. Alternatively, the sampledtime periods may comprise days measured for a larger time period such asa week or month, or the sampled time periods can comprise minutesegments of an hour, etc. The samples 200 provide data for the sampledtime periods over multiple instances of the larger time periods.

The storage manager 118, cache manager 120, and threat detector 124 areshown in FIG. 1 as program code loaded into the memory 114 and executedby one or more of the processors 112. Alternatively, some or all of thefunctions may be implemented as microcode or firmware in hardwaredevices in the storage controller 104, such as in Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs).

The storage 110 may comprise one or more storage devices known in theart, such as a solid state storage device (SSD) comprised of solid stateelectronics, NAND storage cells, EEPROM (Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory), flash memory, flash disk, Random AccessMemory (RAM) drive, storage-class memory (SCM), Phase Change Memory(PCM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), spin transfer torquememory (STM-RAM), conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM), magnetic hard diskdrive, optical disk, tape, etc. The storage devices may further beconfigured into an array of devices, such as Just a Bunch of Disks(JBOD), Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), Redundant Array ofIndependent Disks (RAID) array, virtualization device, etc. Further, thestorage devices may comprise heterogeneous storage devices fromdifferent vendors or from the same vendor.

The memory 114 may comprise a suitable volatile or non-volatile memorydevices, including those described above.

The network 106 may comprise a Storage Area Network (SAN), a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet, and Intranet,etc. Alternatively, the hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂ . . . 102 _(n) may connect tothe storage controller 104 over a bus interface, such as a PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus interface and other interfaces known inthe art.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of an instance of an I/O activitysample 200 _(i) comprising a sample group identifier (ID) 202, such asan identifier of a larger time period during which the samples aremeasured, such as a specified day, week, month, etc.; a time period 204for which the sample was measured, where there may be multiple timeperiods 204 within a larger sample group or larger time period, such asportions of a day within a day, days within a week, etc. and a peak I/Orate 206 comprising the highest I/O rate that occurred during the timeperiod 204, such as measured as a data transfer rate.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an instance of historical I/Oactivity 300 _(i) for a time period calculated from the I/O activitysamples 200 _(i) for the time period, and includes a time period 302 ofthe larger period for which the I/O activity samples 200 are gathered;an average peak I/O rate 304 calculated during the time period 302 fromthe samples 200 _(i) for that time period 302; and a standard deviation306 of the peak I/O rates in the I/O activity samples 200 _(i) for thetime period 302. There may comprise different historical I/O activity,such as different average peak I/O rates 304 and standard deviations306, for different time periods measured for the larger time period.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of an instance of data entity accessinformation 400 _(i) for a specified data entity 402 and indicates alast read timestamp 404 indicating a time of a last read to the dataentity 402 and a last write timestamp 406 indicating a time of a lastwrite to the data entity 402.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the threatdetector 124 to determine whether a process is suspicious in potentiallyhaving malicious code that considers the historical I/O activity 300,such that a process is deemed suspicious if the process I/O activityexceeds historical I/O activity by a threshold. Such a test is based onthe empirical observation that malicious code tends to perform a muchlarger amount of accesses of data, such as ransomware trying to encryptall the data sets in a volume or a virus trying to corrupt or steallarge amounts of data. Upon initiating an operation (at block 500) tomonitor the I/O activity of a process, the threat detector 124determines (at block 502) a process I/O rate of the monitored processaccessing data in the storage 110, where the I/O rate may comprise atransfer rate of accessing data, e.g., read or written, for a unit oftime, e.g., megabytes or gigabytes per second. A determination is made(at block 504) of a time period during which the process I/O activity isoccurring, such as a portion of a day or other time period segment. Theaverage peak I/O rate 304 for the time period 302 is determined (atblock 506) from the historical I/O activity instance 300 _(i) for thedetermined time period. A standard deviation 306 for the determined peakI/O rate 304 is determined (at block 508) from the peak I/O rates 206measured during samples 200 _(i) of the time period.

If (at block 510) the process I/O rate exceeds the determined peak I/Orate 304 by a threshold, such as a predetermined number of thedetermined standard deviation 306 for the average peak I/O rate 304 forthe determined time period 302, then the monitored process is identified(at block 512) as a suspicious process. If (at block 510) the processI/O rate does not exceed the threshold, e.g., predetermined number ofstandard deviations, then the process I/O rate is determined not to besufficiently large so as to warrant considering the monitored process asa suspicious process possibly comprising malicious code.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the threatdetector 124 to determine whether a process is suspicious in potentiallyhaving malicious code that considers the last time a data entityincluding the data accessed by the process was accessed, such that aprocess is deemed suspicious if the process accesses data entities thathave not been accessed in a threshold time. This classification assuspicious is based on the empirical observation that malicious codetends to access all data, including data that has not been accessed in along time, than non-malevolent processes. Upon initiating an operation(at block 600) to monitor the I/O activity of a process, the threatdetector 124 determines (at block 602) whether the I/O activity is aread or write access. If a write, then the threat detector 124determines (at block 604) whether a difference of the process accesstime and a last write timestamp 406 exceed a write threshold. If so,then the monitored process is identified (at block 608) as a suspiciousprocess. Otherwise, if (at block 604) the difference of when the dataentity was last written does not exceed a threshold, i.e., is not toolong, then control ends without the monitored process being designated asuspicious process.

If (at block 602) the I/O activity of the monitored process comprises aread, then the threat detector 124 determines (at block 606) whether adifference of the process access time and a last read timestamp 404 forthe accessed data entity 402 exceeds a read threshold. If so, then themonitored process is identified (at block 608) as a suspicious process.Otherwise, if the difference of when the data entity was last read doesnot exceed a read threshold, i.e., is not too long, then control endswithout the monitored process being designated a suspicious process.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the threatdetector 124 to determine whether a process is suspicious in potentiallyhaving malicious code that requires at least two conditions to besatisfied, such as a historical I/O activity pattern, as with FIG. 5, ora recentness of access, as with FIG. 6, or other characteristics thatmay be considered, such as characteristics that tend to indicate aprocess comprises malicious code. Upon monitoring (at block 700) the I/Oactivity of a process, a determination is made (at block 702) of a firstcharacteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity from a monitoredprocess. The first characteristic may comprise one of the historical I/Oactivity, a time of last access or another characteristic indicatingmalicious code. If (at block 704) a first characteristic of the processI/O activity as compared to the first the characteristic of the datadoes not satisfy a condition, then control ends (at block 706) withoutindicating the process as suspicious. If the condition (at block 704) issatisfied, then the threat detector 124 proceeds to consider anadditional condition and determines (at block 708) a secondcharacteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity from themonitored process. The second characteristic is different from the firstcharacteristics and may comprise one of the historical I/O activity, atime of last access or another characteristic. If (at block 710) asecond characteristic of the process I/O activity as compared to thesecond characteristic of the data does not satisfy a condition, thencontrol ends (at block 706) without indicating the process assuspicious. Otherwise, if (at block 710) the condition is satisfied,then the threat detector 124 characterizes (at block 712) the monitoredprocess initiating the I/O activity as a suspicious process. Further, asecurity breach is indicated (at block 714). At this point, a threatmanager may take actions to limit the operations of the identifiedsuspicious activity to prevent malicious operations.

With the described embodiments of FIG. 7 at least two conditions knownto indicate a process as potentially having malicious code must besatisfied before the process is deemed to be a suspicious processsuspected of having malicious code. After the process is deemedsuspicious, then actions may be taken to restrict that processes accessto data or protect data from being modified by that suspicious process.Two conditions reduce the likelihood of overclassifying processes assuspicious, i.e., too many false positives For instance the first andthe second characteristics of the data subject to the I/O activity aredifferent and each may comprise a peak I/O rate during a time periodwhich an I/O rate of data access during the time period was a highestI/O rate and a timestamp when the data was last accessed. Othercharacteristics and tests may also be used based on an attribute of thedata and I/O activity that when determined to exceed a threshold isindicative of malicious code. In this way, the two conditions of FIG. 7may comprise the checks of FIGS. 5 and 6 combined, in either order. Forinstance, the first characteristic of the process I/O activity comprisesa process I/O rate of the process I/O activity when the firstcharacteristic of the data comprises a peak I/O rate or the firstcharacteristic of the process I/O activity comprises a process accesstime at which the process is accessing the data when the firstcharacteristic comprises the timestamp. The second characteristic of theprocess I/O activity comprises the process access time at which theprocess is accessing the data when the second characteristic comprisesthe timestamp or the second characteristic of the process I/O activitycomprises a process I/O rate of the process I/O activity when the secondcharacteristic of the data comprises a peak I/O rate.

In further embodiments, additional checking operations with respect tofurther characteristics may be performed beyond the two characteristics.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The computational components of FIG. 1, including the hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂. . . 102 _(n) and storage controller 104, may be implemented in one ormore computer systems, such as the computer system 802 shown in FIG. 8.Computer system/server 802 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 802 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 8, the computer system/server 802 is shown in the formof a general-purpose computing device. The components of computersystem/server 802 may include, but are not limited to, one or moreprocessors or processing units 804, a system memory 806, and a bus 808that couples various system components including system memory 806 toprocessor 804. Bus 808 represents one or more of any of several types ofbus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or localbus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, andnot limitation, such architectures include Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 802 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 802, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 806 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 810 and/or cachememory 812. Computer system/server 802 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 813 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 808 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 806 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 814, having a set (at least one) of program modules 816,may be stored in memory 806 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. The components of the computer 802 may be implemented asprogram modules 816 which generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein. Thesystems of FIG. 1 may be implemented in one or more computer systems802, where if they are implemented in multiple computer systems 802,then the computer systems may communicate over a network.

Computer system/server 802 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 818 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display820, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interact withcomputer system/server 802; and/or any devices (e.g., network card,modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 802 to communicate withone or more other computing devices. Such communication can occur viaInput/Output (I/O) interfaces 822. Still yet, computer system/server 802can communicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 824. As depicted, network adapter 824communicates with the other components of computer system/server 802 viabus 808. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 802. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all)embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereofmean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of theitems are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Onthe contrary a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device/article (whether or not theycooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly,where more than one device or article is described herein (whether ornot they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a singledevice/article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead ofthe shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or thefeatures of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more otherdevices which are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the present inventionneed not include the device itself.

The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention hasbeen presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the preciseform disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claimsappended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide acomplete description of the manufacture and use of the composition ofthe invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, theinvention resides in the claims herein after appended.

1-25. (canceled)
 26. A computer program product for detecting a securitybreach in a system managing access to a storage, the computer programproduct comprising a computer readable storage medium having computerreadable program code embodied therein that when executed performsoperations, the operations comprising: monitoring Input/Output (I/O)activity by a process accessing data in a storage; determining acharacteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity from the process;determining whether a characteristic of the I/O activity as compared tothe characteristic of the data satisfies a condition; characterizing theprocess as a suspicious process in response to determining that thecondition is satisfied; and indicating a security breach in response tocharacterizing the process as the suspicious process.
 27. The computerprogram product of claim 26, wherein the characteristic of the datacomprises a first characteristic of the data and the characteristic ofthe I/O activity comprises a first characteristics of the I/O activity,and in response to determining that the first characteristic of the I/Oactivity as compared to the first characteristic of the data satisfies afirst condition, performing: determining a second characteristic of thedata subject to the I/O activity from the process; and determiningwhether a second characteristic of the I/O activity as compared to thesecond characteristic of the data satisfies a second condition, whereinthe process initiating the I/O activity is indicated as the suspiciousprocess in response to determining that the second condition issatisfied.
 28. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein thecharacteristic of the data subject to the I/O activity comprises ahistorical I/O activity of the data, wherein the determining whether thecharacteristic of the I/O activity as compared to the characteristic ofthe data satisfies the condition comprises determining whether the I/Oactivity exceeds the historical I/O activity by a threshold, wherein thecondition is satisfied in response to determining that the I/O activityexceeds the historical I/O activity by the threshold.
 29. The computerprogram product of claim 28, wherein the historical I/O activitycomprises peak I/O rates during a plurality of time periods, wherein apeak I/O rate during each time period comprises a highest I/O rate forthe time period, and wherein the I/O activity comprises an I/O rate ofthe I/O activity, wherein the determining whether the I/O activityexceeds the historical I/O activity by the threshold comprises:determining one of the time periods during which the I/O activity wasoccurring; and determining the peak I/O rate during the determined timeperiod of the plurality of time periods during which the I/O activitywas occurring, wherein the determining whether the I/O activity exceedsthe historical I/O activity by a threshold comprises determining whetherthe process I/O rate exceeds the determined peak I/O rate during thedetermined time period by the threshold.
 30. The computer programproduct of claim 26, wherein the characteristic of the data subject tothe I/O activity comprises a timestamp when the data was last accessed,and wherein the characteristics of the I/O activity comprises a processaccess time at which the process is accessing the data, wherein thedetermining whether the characteristic of the I/O activity as comparedto the characteristic of the data satisfies the condition comprisesdetermining whether a difference of the process access time and thetimestamp of the data subject to the I/O activity exceeds a threshold,wherein the condition is satisfied in response to determining that thedifference exceeds the threshold.
 31. The computer program product ofclaim 30, wherein the timestamp indicates a time a section of dataincluding the data subject to the I/O activity was last accessed. 32.The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the timestampcomprises a read timestamp indicating when the data was last read,wherein a write timestamp indicates indicating when the data was lastwritten, wherein the determining whether the difference of the processaccess time and the timestamp of the data subject to the I/O activityexceeds the threshold, comprises: determining whether a difference ofthe process access time and the read timestamp exceeds a read thresholdin response to the I/O activity reading the data; and determiningwhether a difference of the process access time and the write timestampexceeds a write threshold in response to the I/O activity writing to thedata.
 33. A system detecting a security breach in a system managingaccess to a storage, comprising: a processor; and a computer readablestorage medium having computer readable program code that when executedby the processor performs operations, the operations comprising:monitoring Input/Output (I/O) activity by a process accessing data in astorage; determining a characteristic of the data subject to the I/Oactivity from the process; determining whether a characteristic of theI/O activity as compared to the characteristic of the data satisfies acondition; characterizing the process as a suspicious process inresponse to determining that the condition is satisfied; and indicatinga security breach in response to characterizing the process as thesuspicious process.
 34. The system of claim 33, wherein thecharacteristic of the data comprises a first characteristic of the dataand the characteristic of the I/O activity comprises a firstcharacteristics of the I/O activity, and in response to determining thatthe first characteristic of the I/O activity as compared to the firstcharacteristic of the data satisfies a first condition, performing:determining a second characteristic of the data subject to the I/Oactivity from the process; and determining whether a secondcharacteristic of the I/O activity as compared to the secondcharacteristic of the data satisfies a second condition, wherein theprocess initiating the I/O activity is indicated as the suspiciousprocess in response to determining that the second condition issatisfied.
 35. The system of claim 33, wherein the characteristic of thedata subject to the I/O activity comprises a historical I/O activity ofthe data, wherein the determining whether the characteristic of the I/Oactivity as compared to the characteristic of the data satisfies thecondition comprises determining whether the I/O activity exceeds thehistorical I/O activity by a threshold, wherein the condition issatisfied in response to determining that the I/O activity exceeds thehistorical I/O activity by the threshold.
 36. The system of claim 35,wherein the historical I/O activity comprises peak I/O rates during aplurality of time periods, wherein a peak I/O rate during each timeperiod comprises a highest I/O rate for the time period, and wherein theI/O activity comprises a process I/O rate of the I/O activity, whereinthe determining whether the I/O activity exceeds the historical I/Oactivity by the threshold comprises: determining one of the time periodsduring which the I/O activity was occurring; and determining the peakI/O rate during the determined time period of the plurality of timeperiods during which the I/O activity was occurring, wherein thedetermining whether the I/O activity exceeds the historical I/O activityby a threshold comprises determining whether the process I/O rateexceeds the determined peak I/O rate during the determined time periodby the threshold.
 37. The system of claim 33, wherein the characteristicof the data subject to the I/O activity comprises a timestamp when thedata was last accessed, and wherein the characteristics of the I/Oactivity comprises a process access time at which the process isaccessing the data, wherein the determining whether the characteristicof the I/O activity as compared to the characteristic of the datasatisfies the condition comprises determining whether a difference ofthe process access time and the timestamp of the data subject to the I/Oactivity exceeds a threshold, wherein the condition is satisfied inresponse to determining that the difference exceeds the threshold. 38.The system of claim 37, wherein the timestamp indicates a time a sectionof data including the data subject to the I/O activity was lastaccessed.
 39. The system of claim 37, wherein the timestamp comprises aread timestamp indicating when the data was last read, wherein a writetimestamp indicates indicating when the data was last written, whereinthe determining whether the difference of the process access time andthe timestamp of the data subject to the I/O activity exceeds thethreshold, comprises: determining whether a difference of the processaccess time and the read timestamp exceeds a read threshold in responseto the I/O activity reading the data; and determining whether adifference of the process access time and the write timestamp exceeds awrite threshold in response to the I/O activity writing to the data. 40.A method for detecting a security breach in a system managing access toa storage, comprising: monitoring Input/Output (I/O) activity by aprocess accessing data in a storage; determining a characteristic of thedata subject to the I/O activity from the process; determining whether acharacteristic of the I/O activity as compared to the characteristic ofthe data satisfies a condition; characterizing the process as asuspicious process in response to determining that the condition issatisfied; and indicating a security breach in response tocharacterizing the process as the suspicious process.
 41. The method ofclaim 40, wherein the characteristic of the data comprises a firstcharacteristic of the data and the characteristic of the I/O activitycomprises a first characteristics of the I/O activity, and in responseto determining that the first characteristic of the I/O activity ascompared to the first characteristic of the data satisfies a firstcondition, performing: determining a second characteristic of the datasubject to the I/O activity from the process; and determining whether asecond characteristic of the I/O activity as compared to the secondcharacteristic of the data satisfies a second condition, wherein theprocess initiating the I/O activity is indicated as the suspiciousprocess in response to determining that the second condition issatisfied.
 42. The method of claim 40, wherein the characteristic of thedata subject to the I/O activity comprises a historical I/O activity ofthe data, wherein the determining whether the characteristic of the I/Oactivity as compared to the characteristic of the data satisfies thecondition comprises determining whether the I/O activity exceeds thehistorical I/O activity by a threshold, wherein the condition issatisfied in response to determining that the I/O activity exceeds thehistorical I/O activity by the threshold.
 43. The method of claim 40,wherein the characteristic of the data subject to the I/O activitycomprises a timestamp when the data was last accessed, and wherein thecharacteristics of the I/O activity comprises a process access time atwhich the process is accessing the data, wherein the determining whetherthe characteristic of the I/O activity as compared to the characteristicof the data satisfies the condition comprises determining whether adifference of the process access time and the timestamp of the datasubject to the I/O activity exceeds a threshold, wherein the conditionis satisfied in response to determining that the difference exceeds thethreshold.
 44. The method of claim 43, wherein the timestamp indicates atime a section of data including the data subject to the I/O activitywas last accessed.
 45. The method of claim 43, wherein the timestampcomprises a read timestamp indicating when the data was last read,wherein a write timestamp indicates indicating when the data was lastwritten, wherein the determining whether the difference of the processaccess time and the timestamp of the data subject to the I/O activityexceeds the threshold, comprises: determining whether a difference ofthe process access time and the read timestamp exceeds a read thresholdin response to the I/O activity reading the data; and determiningwhether a difference of the process access time and the write timestampexceeds a write threshold in response to the I/O activity writing to thedata.